Jack Lemmon Saw The Apartment As More Controversial Than Some Like It Hot
Old Hollywood star Jack Lemmon wasn't afraid to push boundaries with his comedies. He starred in his share of controversial films, including Billy Wilder's musical comedy "Some Like it Hot," in which Lemmon and his co-star Tony Curtis dressed in drag. Believe it or not, Lemmon doesn't count "Some Like it Hot" as his edgiest role — in fact, it's not even the most scandalous film he made under Wilder's direction. That honor goes to the multi-Academy Award-winning film from 1960, "The Apartment."
"The Apartment" was produced and released just one year after "Some Like it Hot," Lemmon and Wilder's first film together. "After we finished 'Some Like it Hot,' I wanted to make another picture with Lemmon," Wilder recalled in the documentary Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man. The director first got the idea for the film from David Lean's 1945 romantic drama "Brief Encounter," a British film about a man's affair with a married woman.
"In order to have their rendezvous of love they would go to the apartment of a friend of this guy," Wilder explained. "I always thought that the guy whose apartment they use was an interesting character, and I kept that in the back of my mind." When Wilder got to see Lemmon's talent first hand on the set of "Some Like it Hot," he knew he would be "the perfect cast" for this complicated character.
Wilder quickly pitched his idea to Lemmon and wrote the script for their next collaboration. The actor described it as one of the best scripts I ever read," per the American Film Institute. The script might have been perfect, but the characters certainly were not.
The Hays code was still in effect
One thing Lemmon loved about "The Apartment" from the moment he first read the script "was the fact that there were so many faults in the characters," the actor explained. "Billy [Wilder] was never afraid, in fact, he would seemingly go out of his way to manifest the faults within characters, because we all are faulted."
Having morally complex characters makes the film more true to life, but it also complicates the moral stance of the film and its director. At the time that "The Apartment" was released in 1960, the Hays code was beginning to loosen its grip on the American film industry. That meant that all mentions of sex, especially extramarital affairs, were still taboo. That's why when Ability Magazine asked Lemmon if he got any backlash for "Some Like it Hot" in 2001, he replied, "No... there was more controversy about 'The Apartment' actually."
The premise of "The Apartment" suggests that it is normal, even popular, for businessmen to cheat on their spouses. Moreover, the main character's romantic interest, Fran Kubelik (Shirley Maclaine), is involved with a married man. Fran's behavior is downright immoral, and yet the audience is made to sympathize with her, and even fall in love with her. It might not seem crazy in today's social climate, but in 1960, such a story was totally unheard of in Hollywood.
The Apartment was 'very critical' of society at the time
1960 was a huge year for Hollywood and its freedom of expression. For this first time, major studio films like "The Apartment" and "Psycho" were breaking the Hays code in a big way and still finding massive commercial success. Wilder had first pushed the boundaries of the code with "Some Like it Hot," but in "The Apartment," he more or less threw it out the window.
"The Apartment" was incredibly well-received — it went on to win Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at the Oscars — but studio executives were very nervous about the film's potential to upset audiences. "[I]t was very critical — taking pokes at [...] our business society and their behavior," Lemmon explained. "I don't think there is any question that three or four years before the time we shot you wouldn't have been able to make that film. The studios wouldn't back it."
Luckily for us, Wilder pitched the film at just the right time, and one of Hollywood's greatest achievements was born. "The Apartment" seems tamer than "Some Like it Hot" through today's eyes, but its harsh criticisms of typical American life surely raised eyebrows in the post-war suburbia of 1960. The premise might seem less scandalous today, but "The Apartment" definitely hasn't lost its strength.